Grim Tales From Down Below Alternates
by DarkMasterofCupcakes
Summary: A compilation of different stories based on Grim Tales. Alternate Universes and endings. A must read for any Lock, Shock, and Barrel fans upset by their fate in the original story. Please read and review.


Junior moaned softly as began to come to.

He had no idea what was happening.

The last thing he remembered was Minnie giving him her eye and then….Leaving him.

But, what was happening now? Why was he so high up?

He looked down, trying to survey the situation.

He was perched on top of that metal pumpkin, the one he had destroyed before that warrior angel had taken Minnie away! There were voices whispering in his skull. They spoke of revenge.

What did that mean?

Junior peered more closely in order to see what was happening.

Small scythes were being extended from the pumpkin, heading towards Lock, Shock, Barrel, and Oogie.

'No' Junior thought as three of the scythes impaled the children.

He had seen their faces when Minnie was being torn apart; they hadn't planned for something that horrible to happen.

They deserved to be punished, but death was way too steep a price for them to pay.

The scythes shuddered slightly inside of their victims, as though questioning why the souls were not being devoured.

After a few moments of struggle, the scythes retreated out of the children.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel fell to the floor, seemingly lifeless.

Junior felt himself go stiff.

Were they?

No….they were unconscious, not dead. He could feel their souls inside of their bodies.

That was good; they didn't deserve to die.

Oogie, on the other hand….

Junior felt himself go cold as the three scythes, plus one that had newly emerged, grabbed the Boogie Man and held him aloft.

He knew what he was doing. He had summoned the mechanical pumpkin. He had killed Minnie. He deserved death.

A fifth scythe sliced through the sack-body of the villain.

A couple small insects fell from the hole that resulted, but a majority of the millions of bugs screamed in agony as they met their collective fate.

The voices in his head returned, seeming to sigh happily before thanking him for the meal. Junior didn't respond (not that he could, considering the voices were inside of his skull).

He simply turned his gaze back to Lock, Shock, and Barrel, lying limply on the floor.

He had to get them out of there. He didn't know why; he just had a feeling that if they remained in the reach of the pumpkin, they would be killed.

Without really thinking about where he would be sending them, Junior used the hand of the giant pumpkin to lift the children, using the clawlike fingers on the other to slice a tear in the fabric of space, just like his father did with his scythe.

He tossed the devil, the witch, and the ghoul into the tear, which closed a second afterwards.

_That was not a smart move, little reaper. We wanted to eat those souls._

Junior tried to scream as he felt the rubbery tentacles that had strangled him earlier wrap themselves around his skull, but was thwarted by a tentacle being used as a gag around his mouth.

_You need to be punished for misbehaving._

And, then, everything went black.

* * *

He shivered as he once again came to consciousness.

Wait…..

Junior blinked a few times in order to steady his vision. He looked at his hands. He almost screamed.

His hands were covered in skin!

He brought a hand up to feel his head. The hard bone was covered by soft skin, and on top was more hair then he'd ever had in his life.

'What's happened to me?' he thought to himself.

"Don't be frightened, little reaper. This form is merely a representation of your soul. Your physical body is still trapped somewhere deep inside the beast that you created".

Junior turned his head to see who was speaking to him.

Floating a few feet away from his was a ghost with blue skin and no legs, switching from a child, to an adult, to an old man, and back again.

The ghost remained silent for a few moments, as though waiting for the boy to say something. When he did not, the ghost continued speaking.

"You have put the world, all the worlds in great danger. That beast you created will not stop until it has devoured the souls of all the inhabitants of Heaven, Hell, and all the worlds in between. Your parents and a few other fighters have thus far been able to keep the creature from feasting, but I do not know how long they will last."

Junior was confused.

What was he talking about? A beast that he created?

He hadn't….Was he talking about the Pumpkinator-Monster?

But, he hadn't created that; he had just woken up attached to it.

"It is your duty to destroy the monster you created, young death. Your sister will be able to help you find the way to victory".

With that, the ghost vanished, leaving Junior alone in the stone.

"Find Minnie? How am I supposed to find her here? That warrior angel took her to Heaven…" Junior muttered sadly.

Did that mean he wouldn't be able to defeat the monster?

Not that he thought he had much of a chance to begin with.

But, without Minnie, he was sure he had no chance.

He felt his right eye…Minnie's right eye….throb suddenly. The feeling was strange. It was painful, but at the same time, there was a slight warmth coming from the eye. But, what did that mean?

_Go south….Go south…._

The voice whispering in his head sounded so much like the voices he heard before, the ones telling him about revenge, scolding him for sparing the other children. Only, this time, the voices were softer, more gentle. But, should he listen to the voices?

_Go south….Our mistress is there….We will lead you to her…._

'They're talking about Minnie…' Junior thought. 'They must be.'

If the voices would lead him to his sister, then he would listen to them.

He didn't have much of a choice anyway.

And, so, he began to walk south.

The farther he walked, the more intense the throbbing in his right eye became.

Finally, he reached a huge, dark cave. The throbbing was more intense than ever.

_Our mistress….We sense her spirit….We sense her…._

Junior couldn't help but grin. He had been hoping to see his sister again, ever since she was taken from him.

No longer feeling the biting chill of the air, Junior allowed the hood of his sweater to fall down as he ran into the cave, calling his little sister's name.

There was no response.

Junior felt his heart drop.

He had thought the throbbing in his eye and the voices in his head were leading him to Minnie. He thought he was going to be able to find her. He thought they would somehow get back to Halloweentown and stop the monster. He thought wrong.

He fell to the cold, stone floor, bringing his knees to his chest.

What was he going to do now?

Junior hummed softly in confusion as he felt his right eye move slightly. His left eye remained stationary.

_Mistress….Our mistress….._

Junior turned his head, as though expecting to see Minnie.

She wasn't there and he felt his heart drop even more.

He felt strange, however, like he could feel her near.

The former skeleton got to his feet, walking towards the direction his right eye had been facing.

Fifteen feet away from where he had previously been sitting….was a small pendant shaped like his father's skull. The same pendant that Minnie had worn when she was alive….

But, what was it doing here? Minnie's pendant had been left on her body when she died. And, why was his eye reacting to it?

_Our mistress…The pendant….Her spirit…._

Junior reached for the pendant. He didn't realize he was doing so until he felt the rough textures of the pendant against his skin. He brought the pendant closer to his face.

His right eye became very warm and the voices in his head seemed to cheer as the black sockets of the pendant came within a foot of them.

'Minnie….Is it true?'

"Yes, little reaper" came the voice of the ghost Junior had encountered before. He appeared into the cave through a swirling portal, the color violet. "Like on Earth, those who die are granted one final request before their soul moves on to its final resting place. Her request was that a small bit of her spirit would be placed inside of this pendant, and that it would guide you on your quest."

Junior blinked once. "And how is this going to help me?" he questioned the blue ghost, who simply laughed, turning into a child.

"You'll find that out soon enough" the ghost informed him with a hint of humor in his voice.

Junior frowned. He wasn't in the mood for humor right now.

He opened his mouth, ready to retort, when the blue ghost flew over to him and gave him a gentle, yet firm shove.

Despite having the appearance of a child, the ghost had the strength of a full grown man.

Junior fell, expecting to meet the snowy ground. Instead, he landed with a thud on the roof of a building in Halloweentown.

Junior moaned in pain from the rough landing.

_Welcome back, little reaper. Where have you been? We missed you._Before he knew what had happened, Junior felt himself being lifted from the roof by a thick, rubbery tentacle. By instinct, he held tightly onto the pedant so it would not fall from his grasp.

He tried to remain calm as he was lifted higher and higher. But, he was unable to keep the fear from coming to his face as he was met by a large tongue, covered in golden eyes.

_You shouldn't have gone away, little reaper. Without us, you're too weak to survive out in the real world. You need us to survive. Become one with us again. Share our power…_

Junior opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

The beast slowly brought the boy to its mouth.

Junior's own mouth remained gaping, even as he fell into the belly of the beast.

There was nothing to be seen in the belly except darkness. The silence was occasionally pierced by small voices, screaming in terror.

Junior closed his eyes. He wanted to cry. He couldn't help it. Even if he was next in line to become the reaper of souls, he was still a child. He still feared his own demise.

He opened his eyes again as he saw a bright light, shining through his eyelids.

"M….Minnie?" he whispered, a small smile coming to his lips.

There, standing in front of him, was Minnie! Or, it looked a lot like Minnie. The hair was longer, a bit more curled, but everything else was exactly how Junior had remembered her in life.

The glowing Minnie-clone was connected to a sort of ghostly line.

Junior looked down at the pendant in his hand. The mouth was open, and coming from the open mouth was the ghostly link to "Minnie".

He looked questioningly at her, wondering what she wanted.

Minnie pointed silently behind him.

Junior turned to see what she was pointing at.

Not far from where they were standing was what looked like a nest of tentacles, wrapped around something.

Junior stepped closer, trying to see exactly what was trapped within the nest.

His eyes widened as he discovered what it was.

It was his skeletal body, lying limp and lifeless. One eye socket was sealed shut, the left. The right, however, was wide open, the eyeball that lay inside of it glowing with a faint, grey light.

"What do I do?" he asked Minnie, who pointed at the eye inside of the skeleton Junior's socket.

When Junior looked at her still in confusion, she made a grabbing motion with her hand.

"You want me to take the eye out?"

She nodded, a small smile on her face. Junior reached into the eye socket, grabbing the eye that lie within it.

He pulled gently, expecting the eye to come out with no problem.

Instead, he was met by a great deal of resistance.

He pulled harder, hard as he could, but he was still unable to budge the eye.

Just as he was about to give up, he felt a warm hand on his arm.

Looking up, he saw Minnie, giving him an encouraging smile.

Junior pulled on the eye once again, this time with Minnie assisting.

After several moments of pulling, the eye finally became loose from the eye socket, coming out in Junior's hand. _**The beast screamed in pain. It was loosing the power. It needed the power. It needed all of the power. The power of Nergal. The power of the Reaper. It needed both to be able to support itself. Without one, the other was not strong enough to support the massive weight of the beast. The beast screamed again, before it saw the first and last light of its existence.**_"Junior!"

Junior turned his head, which was once again skeletal with the long tuft of hair, to see his father running towards him.

Grim took his son into his arms and embraced him, not caring if anyone saw him.

Junior remained still for a moment, before returning his father's embrace. He opened his eye socket to see the blue ghost floating behind his father's back.

"Well done, Junior. You have done well. The souls that were disturbed by the beast have been returned to their former condition.".

The skeleton boy grinned. He had saved those three after all.

The joy turned to suspicion, however, when the ghost continued to speak.

"However, there is one last thing that you must do. While you hold the powers of both a demon and a reaper, you risk creating such a beast again. For the good of the worlds, you must make a choice. You may relinquish your demon powers and become a reaper alone. Or, you may decide to remain and demon and abandon the job you were assigned from birth. No matter what decision you make, you must choose another to take the power you choose to abandon."

Junior didn't even have to think about it.

While he had desired his Uncle Nergal's power for as long as he could remember, his experience with it had brought something to clarity.

He was not ready for his type of power yet.

At least with the reaper powers, he would not be tasked with reaping souls until he was much older and ready to take on the extreme power.

Without speaking a word, Junior reached into his right eye socket and pulled out the eye that lay inside it.

As he removed the eye, he felt a strange tingle down his spine.

He held the eye in his hand for several moments, before walking over to Minnie's body. He knelt by the body, took the eye, and placed it inside the empty eye socket.

"Minnie died because of me, and she gave me this eye. She saved my life, so I figure I can repay her for that by giving her back what's hers".

The blue ghost smiled slightly, nodding his approval.

* * *

In the Hinderlands, three children began to awaken.

The first to wake was the pudgy skeleton-impersonating ghoul.

He turned his head, searching for his two cohorts.

They were lying not far from him, with the witch laying on top of the devil.

The witch turned her head, which was barely an inch above the devil's.

Her lips just barely brushed against his as they both reached full consciousness.

Their cheeks burned with either anger or embarresment…possibly enjoyment.

The three shakingly got to their feet and grabbed hands as they slowly made their way back home.

* * *

Grim Tales From Down Below belongs to Bleedman

Grim Junior and MiniMandy belong to Bleedman and Deaddoll00

Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Grim, and Mandy belong to Maxwell Atoms

Nightmare Before Christmas, Lock, Shock, and Barrel belong to Tim Burton

Clockwork belongs to Butch Hartman

Now, before anyone accuses me of such, I have no hard feelings towards Bleedman personally and I do enjoy Grim Tales for the most part. However, there is one moment and two...concepts, I guess...that I have issue with. One is the moment where Lock, Shock, and Barrel get their souls ripped out. If the sequel or something confirms they survived, I won't have issue with this. I do believe they should have been punished for kidnapping Junior and bringing him to Oogie Boogie, but they did not deserve to die. In this story, they still have their souls, but they're pretty much comatose. And, trust me, they are in pain for the entire time.

I also had some issue with the fact that Junior was portrayed as something of a weakling in the story. I mean, only once does he actually win a fight, and we don't even see it on screen. Even worse was the final "battle" with the Reaperbeast. I mean, Junior didn't DO ANYTHING from what I could see. So, I made him be able to briefly control the demons and have a different way to defeat the Beast.

Finally, I just couldn't leave Junior with both the Demon powers and the Reaper powers. I couldn't help but imagine what would happen if Junior had both powers and lost his temper or became cocky. The whole events of the story could happen again.


End file.
